Charlie Wear's Notes

Struggling for connection

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Are people really struggling to make connections? Is "authentic" community as big a deal as church leaders make it out to be? My friend Scott Bane is talking about these issues on his blog. These days I have some extra time to think about these quandaries. Just about a year ago I was up to my neck in thinking about how a new church would deal with some of these issues. Now I am observing from 2000 miles away what is happening in that same new church on these same issues.

I think it is basic to say that most people fulfill their need for community in their families. If this is true, then the need for community increases proportionately when family ties are weakened or broken. Likewise, where families are strong, these church-generated "community connections" are less important. For me the most valuable connections have been those I have made "on mission." This is because I am more of a human "doing" than a human "being."

Ah well, it’s Friday and another weekend is just around the corner. Time to spend with the family!

What Do You Think?

  1. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    I am pretty much with you about the family being the place of “community” fulfillment. I would rather be at home with my family than almost anything else. This is why I want to resist so forcefully the idea of forcing any sense of “community.” If an atmosphere of warmth and invitation can be developed, the people who need one another will find one another (are we led of the Spirit or not?) and those who are being filled at home will feel no stress about “joining a group.”

    The real danger in what I’m thinking is that we might just become closed. If the atmosphere of warmth and invitation is not coupled with the outward-focused DNA of Jesus, it will be a really selfish thing and will soon sour, don’t you think?

    Thanks for the link 🙂

    Reply

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